Chris Damman, MD 🍓

Why Diet Wars Miss the Point Your Personal Microbiome May Be Deciding Which Foods are Best For You

Moving beyond diet camps: a microbiome-centered view of nutrition.

Food quality shapes metabolism, appetite, and long-term health more than labels like low-carb or plant-based.

sub.gutbites.org/p/why-diet-w...

Gut microbiome may be a central player in the body's response to cancer A new study reveals how bacteria in the gut can help determine whether the amino acid asparagine from the diet will feed tumor growth or activate immune cells against the cancer​, according to researc...

www.news-medical.net/news/2026012...
Gut microbes shape cancer outcomes by regulating dietary asparagine. Bacteria that degrade this amino acid may limit immune cell function and weaken anti-tumor responses, while greater asparagine availability appears to support stronger cancer-fighting immunity.

Binge drinking triggers gut damage, finds new study — Harvard Gazette Research suggests even brief episodes of heavy alcohol consumption can injure small intestine.

A new study shows that binge drinking can damage the gut barrier, allowing bacteria and toxins to enter the bloodstream and trigger inflammation. The injury is driven by neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in the small intestine, and blocking NETs reduced damage.

news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

New research shows eating less ultraprocessed food supports healthier aging A new study found older adults whose diets consisted of only 15% ultraprocessed foods – rather than the usual 50% – had lower weight, insulin and cholesterol.

www.pbs.org/newshour/hea...

How Do Ultraprocessed Foods Affect the Gut?

Timely article from Alice Callahan @NYT. #guthealth #nutrition #microbiome #ultraprocessedfood www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/w...

Nothing to Bok at there. : )

Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.

Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq

Brain scientists are seeking weight-loss drugs without the nausea Weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound often cause nausea and other side effects. Brain scientists are looking for ways to solve this problem.

Research on GLP-1's that target "food noise" in the brain without the GI side effects? www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Editorial about the ultraprocessed food oligopoly putting profit before health www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Eating yogurt regularly may reduce the risk of colon cancer, a study finds Humans have been eating yogurt for millennia. Ancient texts reference its health-promoting properties. Now a new study finds yogurt may reduce the risk of certain types of colon cancer.

A new study finds that eating yogurt regularly may reduce the risk of colon cancer.

The findings are in line with prior studies that have linked yogurt intake to a lower risk of #coloncancer, says Dr. Chris Damman, a @uwmedicine.bsky.social gastroenterologist. @gutbitesmd.bsky.social

This is great news to see shift toward earlier prevention. Now if only we could take it the next step and keep the atheromas from occuring in the first place.

I can confirm that's almost certainly upper endoscopy. I suppose all good art provides foreshadowing, but this is next level. : )

Smart Bites App — Food Quality Scanner — For Microbiome & Metabolic Health - Gut Bites MD Smart Bites is a research-based, public good smart app that assesses food quality to best feed your microbiome & fuel your metabolism. Scan product barcodes for 1-100 scores, find Smarter Bite swaps, ...

Yum! Looks delicious. And bet it scores super high on NCS. gutbites.org/nutrient-con...

And they receive a perfect 100 NCS score. Who has a good soup recipe?

Can never see reference to capybara’s without mind going to ROS in The Princess Bride. Had my children unintentionally terrified when mentioning ROS were real while watching Westley protect Buttercup from the creatures.

A good experiment in how to make health care more expensive.

Effect of the mitophagy inducer urolithin A on age-related immune decline: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial - Nature Aging Immune aging fosters multimorbidity and compromises control of infection and cancer. In a phase 1 randomized controlled trial in middle-aged adults, Denk and colleagues administer the mitophagy induce...

Good paper. Imagine you've seen this one too? www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Noting, too, that you increased your PUFAs and MUFAs with olive oil. The saturated fat in coconut isn’t inherently bad — we just tend not to eat it in balanced amounts alongside unsaturated fats, which is what drives hypercholesterolemia and cardiovascular disease. Smooth move! :)

A paper to suggest ketogenic diet may increase butyrate production via Akkermansia.

Great work!

Important work, and wonder the degree to which urolithin A is the tip of the iceburg in regard to the metabolic, immunologic, and neurologic value of microbiome metabolites? Butyrate, many B-vitamins, conjugated linoleic acid are a few other notable examples.

Why Colorectal Cancer is Rising–The Microbiome, Diet & How to Lower Your Risk - Gut Bites MD Colorectal cancer is rising in young adults. Learn how diet, lifestyle, and the gut microbiome influence risk—and what you can do to prevent it.

Thanks for sharing Eric! Wonder the degree to which ultraprocessed foods increase CRC risk via the gut microbiome? There is a growing literature in this area. gutbites.org/2025/11/02/w...

Ultra-Processed Foods: What the Media & Consumers are Missing - Gut Bites MD Christopher Damman, Associate Professor of Gastroenterology, School of Medicine, University of Washington. Editor-in-Chief of Gut Bites MD. Ultra-processed foods have received quite a lot of press, an...

Love this article! Thanks for covering. Nutrient ratios might help define what is 'off' with ultraprocessed foods. Adding back what's MISSING (fiber, polyphenols, micronutrients...) equal in importance to decreasing what's CONCENTRATED (sugar, additives, salt...) gutbites.org/2025/11/12/u...

Ultra-Processed Foods The FDA is committed to taking action on foods that may be considered ultra-processed to help consumers improve their dietary patterns and reduce the prevalence of diet-related chronic disease.

Yes. Very much agree. Noting FDA had a call for comment to better define. www.fda.gov/food/nutriti...

Great article! And not all processed foods are equal—what’s missing (fiber, polyphenols, healthy fats, micronutrients) is as important as what’s concentrated (sugar, additives, saturated fat, sodium). Food quality can be captured by ratio balances (e.g. carb-to-fiber). gutbites.org/2025/11/12/u...

Ultraprocessed Food and Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer Precursors Among Women This study evaluates the association of the consumption of ultraprocessed foods and the risk of early-onset colorectal cancer (<50 years) in participants of the Nurses’ Health Study II.

Ultraprocessed food consumption linked to 45% higher risk of early onset (before age 50) precancerous polyps. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... #ultraprocessedfood #nutrition

Why Colorectal Cancer is Rising–The Microbiome, Diet & How to Lower Your Risk - Gut Bites MD Colorectal cancer is rising in young adults. Learn how diet, lifestyle, and the gut microbiome influence risk—and what you can do to prevent it.

45 is the new 50. #colonncancer #microbiome gutbites.org/2025/11/02/w...

Effect of the mitophagy inducer urolithin A on age-related immune decline: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial - Nature Aging Immune aging fosters multimorbidity and compromises control of infection and cancer. In a phase 1 randomized controlled trial in middle-aged adults, Denk and colleagues administer the mitophagy induce...

A microbiome-derived metabolite of polyphenols called urolithin A (UA), produced from foods like walnuts and pomegranates, has been shown to expand and rejuvenate cancer- and virus-fighting CD8⁺ T cells while also modulating inflammatory cytokines.

www.nature.com/articles/s43...

A Smarter Way to Shop, Eat & Cook — SmartBites by GutBites MD - Gut Bites MD Developed by a physician and parent, SmartBites is a best-in-class food rating app that gives you and your family options to eat smarter on the go, without giving up the foods you love. Powered by cut...

Developed by a physician and parent, SmartBites is a best-in-class food rating app—powered by cutting-edge nutrition & microbiome science—that simply scans products, suggests smarter versions, and shows how foods combine to better fuel your energy and health.

gutbites.org/2025/09/10/f...